why do we need an advance care plan?

A number of years ago during an intense, emotional training session about dying and death, our guest speaker made a statement that I still think of as profound, and one that I have never forgotten. She said: “Every person over the age of 18* should have an Advance Care Plan.”

Profound because in the small snapshot of those words, a raw image of how unpredictable life is, hit me. In that moment I realized how unprepared I was, and how unprepared most of us are because we don’t want to look life’s possibilities in the eye. I saw how the idea of control allows us to believe we have control. Most of all, how accidents, sickness and death are part of life no matter how hard we try to avoid them. In the end, our lack of preparation, our avoidance, our unwillingness, can cause more suffering than needed - not only for ourselves, but for our loved ones and those who have to make decisions for us.

advance Care Plans help speak for us when we cannot speak for ourselves.

an advance care plan includes estate planning.

The need for an Advance Care Plan is simple. There could come a time when you are unable to communicate your wishes and decisions about your life, or health and medical decisions to those that need that direction or knowledge. Without that ability, you are at the mercy of emotion, of technology, of belief systems, or of this or that person’s experience. In the absence of an Advance Care Plan, and in a situation where you cannot communicate or do not have capacity to do so, you won’t have a say in your care, or decisions about your care, that may impact the rest of your life - no matter how short or how long that may be. An Advance Care Plan speaks clearly about what you would want or what you would not want for yourself.

It is a plan that consists of documents and information (and which hopefully includes an Advance Directive and Substitute Decision Maker document) that tells people how you would choose to move forward with your care given a specific set of circumstances.

An overall and detailed Advance Care Plan will include information not only about your health and medical care, but also about your estate, your assets and debts, and beneficiaries, and who has the responsibility for what. Estate planning is often complex and involves those with professional knowledge. In Module One we will touch on this only briefly.

While it seems that an Advance Care Plan is death-centred, it is more than that. It is a repository of information and wishes that help others understand what you would want for yourself.

It is a gift in times when emotions can make decision-making difficult.

No matter how old you are, no matter your marital status, no matter where you work, or your economics, an Advance Care Plan helps to ensure that your voice is part of health and treatment discussions when you cannot communicate for yourself. When necessary, it helps those left behind to properly manage your material affairs.

Advance Care Planning forces one to think about the very real, and sometimes ugly, and heart-rending side of living and dying. It helps keep your wishes, your preferences and your voice in the conversations.

* Note: This document is based on information for the province of Ontario regarding substitute decision making, advance care planning and Age of Majority. As not all provinces and territories have the same requirements, please check your provincial and territorial laws and requirements. I am not a legal professional, nor a medical professional. None of the information contained in this website should be construed as replacing medical or legal advice.